When he hadn't been able to stop Ronin from opening the door, Nod had decided to sit sullenly under the table with Cheep-Cheep in his lap.
Nora was amused. She and Ronin sat down to have tea and left Eben to try and coax Nod out. Nora had told Eben that Nod had had a bad scare and was having trouble remembering things, even how to talk. Eben seemed to think this completely reasonable and had been asking to come visit since he had found out Nod hadn't gone with his great-great uncle.
"Hi Nod," Eben crawled under the table and sat down across from the other boy, "are you feeling better yet?"
Nod hugged Cheep-Cheep tight and watched him suspiciously.
"I'm Eben," Eben offered, "we're friends, and we play together, and I'm glad you got to stay here because now we can play more."
Nod chirped uncertainly.
"Oh! I know!" Eben brightened and tried to make the chickadee call for 'play' that Nod had taught him.
If the confused look Nod gave him was any indication, he hadn't gotten it quite right. He tried again, and Nod cocked his head to the side and chirped back. On the third try, Nod whistled at him, then crawled over to Ronin and tugged on his pant leg.
"What's up buddy?" Ronin slid his chair back enough to look at him.
Nod made some kind of sign with his hand, and Ronin handed him a cookie. Nod chirped irritably and made the sign again, pointing in Eben's direction.
"Here you go, enough for both of you," Ronin handed him the plate.
"Oh!" Eben's eyes lit up, and he crawled over to Nora, "Mom, Nod can talk with signs! I want to learn signs too so I can talk to Nod! Can you teach me?"
"I don't know any signs sweetie," Nora shook her head, "maybe General Ronin can teach you some."
Eben popped out from under the table next to his mother, "General Ronin, can you teach me to sign so I can talk to Nod?"
"Nod is having trouble with his signs right now, but you could try a few," Ronin smiled, pleased with Eben's eagerness to try to find a way to communicate with Nod, "which ones do you want to learn?"
"Umm…" Eben considered, "how about 'play'? I was trying to ask Nod to play in chickadee, but I think I said I wanted something to eat instead."
Ronin made the sign, and Eben repeated it a few times until he was sure he had it, then started to duck back under the table. He popped right back up though.
"What about 'thank you'?" he asked.
Ronin showed him that sign too, and Eben disappeared back under the table.
Nod was still sitting with Cheep-Cheep, looking very perplexed and a little annoyed. He pushed the plate of cookies towards Eben when he crawled back under the table.
"Thank you," Eben made the sign and took a cookie, "do you want to play?"
Eben made the sign Ronin had shown him, and Nod frowned in confusion, like he couldn't quite figure it out. Eben thought for a moment, then brightened.
"I know!" he scrambled out from under the table and headed for Nod's toy bin.
Nod crawled out, watching him curiously.
Eben started pulling blocks and wooden animals out of the bin and stacking them up.
"Play," he said, making the sign again.
He stacked the blocks a few rows high, then lined the animals up on top of them. Nod chirped and whistled, watching him curiously. He had helped Ronin pick up his blocks and put them back in the bin, but he hadn't really played with them since getting home. He had been much more interested in his stuffed animals.
Nod's curiosity got the better of him, and he crept closer.
"See, we can build a house," Eben said, working on the walls, "and all the animals can live in it."
Nod watched for a few more minutes, then tentatively started stacking blocks as well.
"That's right!" Eben cheered, "we can build a whole city for the animals and even a house for Cheep-Cheep!"
Nod grinned at him shyly and started helping him build.
"Can I just keep Eben for a while?" Ronin asked, watching the boys add to their city with more and more enthusiasm.
"You're only saying that because you've never tried to get him to do something he doesn't want to," Nora laughed, "but if you think Nod is up for it, Eben can come by after school tomorrow and stay for a while."
"Can I?" Eben's head popped up from their building project.
"It's alright with me," Ronin said.
"I get to come back tomorrow!" Eben cheered.
Nod whistled and tugged on his sleeve, pointing to the blocks.
"This house can be for the fox…" Eben went back to helping him build.
"Tomorrow then?" Nora asked in amusement.
"Yeah," Ronin grinned, "thank you."
The blocks crashed to the ground suddenly, and both boys shrieked with laughter. It was one of the nicest sounds Ronin had heard in weeks.
Nod chirped and chattered through getting ready for bed. He kept dragging Ronin back to the living room and pointing at the front door insistently. He seemed to have it in his head that Eben was on the other side, and all they had to do was open the door, and they could play more.
Ronin finally opened the door for him to see. He popped his head out cautiously and looked down both directions of the hall, but there was no one there. Ronin was both amused and a little proud when Nod worked up the nerve to creep out into the hall. He leaned against the door jam and watched Nod pad barefoot and in his pajamas to the end of the hall and peered around the corner.
One of the guards at the end of the hall spotted him and called a soft hello. Nod squeaked and scurried back to Ronin, who laughed and picked him up.
"You have him sir?" the guard poked his head around the corner.
"I do, thank you," Ronin patted Nod's back in amusement.
"Yes sir," the guard smiled, "good night."
"Good night," Ronin nodded and took Nod back inside.
Nod cooed and chirped, gesturing with his hands and nearly wiggling himself out of Ronin's arms.
"Eben will be back tomorrow," Ronin kissed his cheek and set him on the floor, "and the day after tomorrow, Miss Orla is coming to visit for the afternoon."
Ronin needed to meet with Nod's advocates, and the queen would want an update on how the boy was doing, plus Ronin was going to need to get back to work soon. It seemed like leaving Nod with Orla for a few hours would be a good way to ease him back into Ronin being gone.
Nod perked up at Eben's name, whistling and tugging on Ronin's pant leg.
"Tomorrow," Ronin tried the sign for it.
Nod wrinkled his nose as if he was trying to understand.
"Eben is coming tomorrow," Ronin repeated the sign.
Nod stared for a moment longer, then his face brightened suddenly, and he started chirping and whistling happily, pointing to the door and repeating the sign for tomorrow back to Ronin.
Ronin laughed and rumpled his hair, "let's pick out a book and get to bed. The sooner you get to sleep, the sooner tomorrow will come."
Ronin wasn't entirely sure that Nod understood 'tomorrow,' but he at least seemed to understand that Eben was coming back. After story time, and with more wiggling than usual, Nod finally settled down to sleep. Ronin waited a few minutes to make sure he was really sleeping, then slipped out of bed.
Finn had sent over some reports he wanted Ronin to go through, more in the interest of keeping him up to date for when he returned than because he needed anything from him. Now seemed like an easier time to read them then while Nod was awake, so Ronin went to his study and left the doors open so he could hear Nod if he woke up.
It was good to see Nod happy again, and hopefully things would start settling back to normal soon.